Nadia Lockyer being treated for chemical dependency

Just days after a mysterious incident in which she was reportedly attacked at a Newark motel by an ex-boyfriend, Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer said Tuesday that she has enrolled in a program to be treated for chemical dependency.

Lockyer, 40, the wife of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, said in a statement that she entered a “wellness and recovery center” last week for treatment of the unspecified chemical dependency and “my injuries from the assault.”

She also said she was being treated for “chronic pain from a past debilitating car accident,” without giving specifics.

“Alcoholism and addiction are diseases from which many of us suffer, and unfortunately I have not been spared,” Nadia Lockyer said. “I understand that the public and the press have an interest in the health of their elected officials. That is why I am publicly disclosing my medical condition and that I am seeking treatment.”

The statement did not say how long the treatment may take, only that she planned to continue “doing the work I was elected to do.”

Few details have been released about the incident that apparently led Lockyer to enroll in the treatment center.

According to Newark police logs, a 911 call came in at 2:40 a.m. Feb. 3 from the Homewood Suites on Cedar Boulevard regarding an altercation involving a man and a woman.

“The male left prior to officers arriving,” the log said. “The female suffered injuries to her head and neck. She was medically treated.”

Bill Lockyer told us that he and his wife argued over the phone earlier in the evening, and that when Nadia Lockyer hung up, she headed off to the hotel to meet with a former boyfriend.

She portrayed the boyfriend as a troubled person and “thought he was having a crisis,” said Bill Lockyer, who added that he and his wife had recently reunited after a separation. “She thought she could get him to calm down.

“He turned out to be angry … and she was violently assaulted by someone she was trying to help,’’ Lockyer said. He said the ex-boyfriend “seems to have a long history of involvement with the criminal justice system.”

No one has been arrested, but police handed the case over to the District Attorney Nancy O’Malley on Feb. 6. Since then, said O’Malley spokeswoman Teresa Drenick, prosecutors been “following up on the documents provided by Newark police.”

Drenick declined to say whether Nadia Lockyer had been interviewed or whether the alleged attacker had been brought in for questioning, saying only that it was an “ongoing investigation.”

Nadia Lockyer did not mention the incident in her statement, except to say that the account in our column Sunday was “generally true” and that it would take her “some time to heal” from her injuries.

The statement gave no indication of when Lockyer may return to work on the Board of Supervisors representing a district that includes Hayward, Newark, Union City and Fremont. Lockyer was elected to the board in 2010 with considerable help from her husband’s stockpile of campaign cash.

“I know it is a fine line to walk between private and public life,” she said in her statement. “But I hope everyone will understand where that line should be drawn so that I can heal myself and my family while continuing to do the work I was elected to do.”

Colleagues on the board said they had noticed that Lockyer dropped a fair amount of weight in recent months. But “I didn’t put a lot into it,” as there was nothing abnormal about her overall behavior, said fellow Supervisor Keith Carson.